“We didn’t actually get to see all the 49er football that we needed to put out there on tape,” tight end George Kittle said. “Yet, life only sort of hits you directly upside the head once in a while.”
The Niners lost Purdy to a right elbow injury on their 6th hostile snap. After he was initially viewed as sketchy to return, he had no real option except to reappear in the second from last quarter when his substitution – – fourth-string signal-guest Johnson – – was precluded with a blackout.
The Niners accept Purdy hyper-extended his ulnar insurance tendon, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and he will go through a X-ray Monday. The expectation is that the UCL isn’t burst and would require just a six-week recuperation.
“My arm felt like it loosened up,” Purdy said. “I felt simply like a ton of shocks all over from my elbow down to my wrist, front and back. Simply torment, truth be told, all over.”
Those wounds were the most recent and last hits to a 49ers quarterback room that was tormented by different illnesses for the vast majority of the time. San Francisco lost starter Three pointer Spear to a wrecked right lower leg in Week 2 and veteran reinforcement Jimmy Garoppolo to a messed up left foot in Week 13.
That left the Niners resting on Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 NFL draft, to lead them back to the Super Bowl. In his initial seven beginnings, he looked more than fit for doing precisely that as the Niners dominated every one of those matches, including a couple of season finisher challenges. However, Purdy never truly got a very remarkable opportunity to complete the task in Sunday’s 31-7 misfortune to the Falcons.
Purdy supported the injury with 7:03 left in the initial quarter. Confronting second-and-6 at the 50, Purdy dropped back to toss, searching for wideout Brandon Aiyuk down the left side. With a perfect pocket and time to toss, the Niners accepted being a major play was about. Falcons pass-rusher Haason Reddick destroyed those plans, hustling past Niners tight end Tyler Kroft and hitting Purdy as he endeavored to toss, jostling the ball free.
It bobbed off Purdy’s elbow and flew forward to Philadelphia’s 44, where Hawks guarded tackle Linval Joseph recuperated. Following a Philadelphia challenge, Purdy went to the sideline and attempted several tosses and quickly perceived something was off-base. He immediately told mentor Kyle Shanahan that he was unequipped for making any tosses longer than 5 to 10 yards.
“He proceeded to continue to toss and acknowledged he proved unable, so there was actually no conversation after that,” Shanahan said. “He was unable to toss.”
In this way, the Niners went to Johnson, who was making his most memorable season finisher appearance since entering the association in 2009. At the point when he finished a 9-yard pass to recipient Deebo Samuel, he turned into the third-most seasoned quarterback (36 years, 259 days) in the Super Bowl period at the hour of his most memorable vocation season finisher pass endeavor.
Johnson completed the primary half yet was out of the game right off the bat in the second from last quarter. With 12:36 left, Johnson tossed down the right side for wideout Samuel however was hit by Falcons tackle Ndamukong Suh as the ball fell deficient. Johnson prepared back up and seemed to continue onward, yet the authority required a blackout check, and Johnson made a beeline for the blue clinical tent. He then, at that point, went to the storage space to be assessed further.
San Francisco’s expectations of a rebound basically kicked the bucket as Johnson left with the group down two scores and returning to Purdy, who was generally unfit to toss.
“How can it feel to lose the NFC Title Game since I don’t have a quarterback?” Kittle said. “Lovely s- – – ty, frankly.”
After returning, Purdy tossed a short screen pass to running back Christian McCaffrey for an increase of 3. He endeavored just a single additional pass, a short dump-off to Kittle for an increase of 1. Purdy completed 4-of-4 for 23 yards with a normal of 1.5 air yards per endeavor. That is the least typical by a beginning quarterback in a season finisher game since the detail was first followed in 2006 and the second most minimal by a beginning quarterback this season.
As per Shanahan, the Niners stayed with Purdy in spite of his powerlessness to toss since they could essentially remain in their ordinary run game. They likewise wanted to work McCaffrey in as a Wildcat quarterback. That never happened in light of the fact that the Hawks, realizing Purdy couldn’t toss, started putting six safeguards on edge line and stacking the case to stop the run.
“It’s lamentable that it happened the manner in which it did today since I feel like that multitude of folks merit a decent shot,” McCaffrey said. “We as a whole do. In any case, once more, this is an extreme game and here and there it doesn’t turn out well for you.”
The Niners’ dissatisfactions bubbled over with around four minutes left. With the Hawks driving 31-7 and the Niners attempting frantically to get ready to make a splash, a pushing match between the groups broke out after McCaffrey’s 6-yard run with 4:19 to go in the last quarter. San Francisco left tackle Trent Williams hauled Falcons wellbeing K’Von Wallace out of a scrum and pummeled him to the ground. Really pushing followed and the two seats discharged.
Following a couple of moments to figure things out, authorities catapulted Williams and Wallace.
For Purdy and the Niners, it was a baffling finish to a wild ride that had them in their third NFC Title Game in four years. Also, they really wanted to feel as they didn’t have to take their best risk at a Falcons group they truly accepted they could beat.
“Coming into a climate like this secured in good to go and afterward a physical issue occurs and afterward the manner in which the game goes just thoroughly changes in an alternate course,” Purdy said. “It’s simply this large number of feelings, and once more, I return to I need it for these folks, the more seasoned folks more than anyone. As a tenderfoot, you can say you have your entire profession, yet these folks have let me know arriving is uncommon. Along these lines, it’s hard. It’s difficult.“